Seasons of Joy

Looking for a way to bring peace and joy to your day?
Seasons of Joy is my 10-week seasonal guidebook to add rhythm and fun to your daily routine. Each guidebook has ten weeks' worth of circle times, stories, arts, crafts, and handwork, painting, playtime activities and more!

Seasons of Joy seeks to empower families to create peaceful rhythms and routines and joyful celebrations that follow the circle of the year. The blog also chronicles our adventures in living simply, loving exuberantly, and Waldorf inspired homeschooling.

The Hunger Games Review THIS MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION THAT RUINS THE STORY. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
When I went to see The Hunger Games, I had mixed feelings. I was excited to see the movie, but I was worried that they would ruin the movie, and make it completely different from the book. Those of you who read The Lightning Thief, and then saw the movie and hated it, know what I’m talking about.
But thankfully, the movie was not disappointing. The beggining, which was set in District 12, led up well to the reaping. The reaping , in which Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her sister’s place in The Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV, was done very well, and though District 12 was not how I imagined it while reading the books, it looked very real.
The Capitol, was amazing. It fit the description in the book, where the citizens were altered so they have things such as cat whiskers, gems implanted into their skin, and other oddities that the Capitol views as fashion. The set for The Capitol was very nicely done as well.
In The Capitol, Katniss, and Peeta Mellark, the male tribute, meet Cinna, their stylist. Cinna designs for them a costume which is a black suit, and that is lit with synthetic flame, and gives them the appearance of being on fire. The tributes than train together, and Katniss impresses the Gamemakers, the people who control the artificial arena where the tributes train, by shooting an apple out of a roast pig.
In the interviews, Katniss wears a scarlet dress, that Cinna designs to flame when Katniss spins, and earns the title “Katniss Everdeen, the girl who was on fire.” Peeta also confesses that he has had a crush on Katniss for as long as he can remember.
This brings me to discuss something that was a key in the film: Reality television. The Hunger Games is a fight to the death on live TV, where children murder other children. Only one out of twenty-four kids live. How different really is this from reality television. I’m not talking about shows like Iron Chef, or America’s Got Talent, but things like The Real Housewives, where people tear lives apart. No, it’s not killing a person, but it still hurts people.
Caeser Flickerman ,was portrayed very well, and it was very well done how they would show Caesar interviewing Seneca Crane, or running commentary on the games.
The games themselves were very good, although I would advise audiences under thirteen to stay away because of the violence. Mainly it showed Katniss, but there were moments where they would show Caesar Flickerman’s commentary, or they would show the gamemakers devising some sort of death-trap for Katniss to fall into.
The love story between Katniss and Peeta was not quite as exaggerated in the movie, but the nightlock scene was very well done, and it led up very well to the next movie. It is very clear that they will be making another movie, and the series will most likely be a trilogy like the book.
It was a great movie, and it stayed true to the book. I highly recommend it for audiences age 13 and up.
4.5 stars out of 5

10. Because in our house, you’re not allowed to see the movie until you read the book, which my 13-year-old did… 4 times.

9. Because he sat in a large room with a whole bunch of his peers and wasn’t allowed to talk. That’s the socialization thing people are always whining about, right?

8. Because after watching it, we had a stimulating discussion comparing and contrasting the book and movie versions of The Hunger Games, the Harry Potter series, and The Lightning Thief. (Spoiler Alert: The Hunger Games wins.) Read more...

My family is currently smack in the middle of the most dreaded of seasons–

A season of waiting.

As I’ve written before, my husband’s current job is an interim position. A full-time interim, to be sure, and one we’re very blessed to have, but it’s a temporary gig nonetheless. And so we search for a full-time job, dealing with the inconvenience of a job far away with long hours and a daddy who has been very missed.

And you know, it’s very tempting, in the midst of this season, to wait with discontent. Read more...

My life isn’t pin-able.

For one thing, it’s messy. No color-coded, neatly organized, freshly painted rooms here. Instead, there’s dry erase marker on the wall– did you know that not even the chemical mystery that is the Magic Eraser can remove dry erase marker from the wall? No? Well now you know– and as you walk up the stairs you can see where little hands have peeled not one but two layers of ancient wallpaper, both inexplicably featuring shades of avocado green.

For another thing, it’s loud. I don’t mean it to be loud, but even six small people being quiet requires one big person to speak up to be heard over them. Read more...

Happy March Fo(u)rth– the only day of the year that is also a command! We read about this ideas years back in an old issue of Family Fun, so on this day we like to make plans for something we want to accomplish. For me, I would like to get through March without completely losing it.